The Only Truth I Know
by The Lady of the Willows
Summary: Itachi catches Hinata in the forest and tells her a secret. Can you see the clear purity of truth without the darkness for comparison? HinataItachi


**The Only Truth I Know**

Author's Notes: I wanted to write a Hinata/Itachi story, but it was slightly difficult for me to imagine a believable scenario. Itachi does not seem the sort of person to "fall in love" with anyone. I imagine him as the sort who would keep relationships of friendship at most, and his idea of "love" would be more like ownership of another. Hinata, on the other hand, seems to be a closet romantic though she understands the facts of reality, which makes her somewhat pragmatic (one of the reasons I believe her ever eloping, such as in my Acceptance story, is unrealistic. I wanted to try the challenge to see how I could write it, though, and it turned out semi-plausible.) However, her kindness and caring makes her more flexible as a character for interaction, at least for developing one-sided relationships.

But I needed something for Itachi now. After all, I wanted to write a Hinata/Itachi, not a one-sided Hinata/Itachi. Luckily... inspiration came.

This is the work of approximately an hour, with another five or ten minutes for editing. I was sick and was re-reading some Sherlock Holmes stories. I had gotten to the end of "A Scandal in Bohemia" when I was suddenly inspired by the part about where the King of Bohemia says that Irene Adler's "word is involatile". I pulled out my laptop to write a story, and here this is. Please enjoy.

* * *

She told herself that it must be a dream, that she was in some sort of trance or under a genjutsu that made her imagine what was happening currently. It could not be true. Yet she knew what she wanted to think to be false was real, especially as the firm grasp of the hands on her skin tightened more in the forest where she had been alone just previously. They pulled her their owner, a dark-haired man with dark, dark eyes. 

"Hinata," murmured a voice in a misleading, caring tone.

She struggled for a few moments, though she knew it would be futile. He had come again, not to mock or torment her--- if only it had been for those mere trifling things!--- but for something else. It could not have been for the conversation that he came, since she rarely managed to speak more than a line or so. But he often came. Him. Uchiha Itachi, the mistrusted weasel who had ruined an entire clan and was even now in the process of destroying another through the corruption of its daughter.

"I know you are too overjoyed to speak," he continued quietly, "but please, be still." From prior experiences, she knew that if she continued to resist, he would only continue to hold her as she wasted her energy needlessly. Hinata complied with the order and her body slackened. The logical decision pleased her captor, and he smiled to himself behind the darkness. His arms tightened around her.

The clear-eyed female disliked how strong and comforting his presence was. He would not harm her, but it was because he regarded her as a prize--- his prize--- that he would protect her. It might have a lie to say that he cared for her, but if they had been any other couple in this situation, some might have said that. The deception was always complete when he made it so. She allowed him to pull her closer to the red clouds he wore. _"No,"_ she thought to herself, _"this cannot be."_

Itachi knew what his captive was thinking, because she always thought that same denial. "This can be," he whispered into the air over her blue hair, "I told you before, the first time, that you are my prize." That had been over a decade ago, when she was five and he was eleven. The Hyuuga and Uchiha families had an event together and he had met her. After a bit of time together, Uchiha Itachi smiled down at Hyuuga Hinata and swore that she would his prize. She had smiled in return, a silent entreaty for him to always keep his promise. It was an oath made long ago by the darkness, on the truth.

The words fell through into Hinata's ears even though they were spoken above her. It was as though he controlled her like a master with his puppet, being above her even with words besides power. She unconsciously leaned into him, knowing that even with the pain he gave her, he was a barrier and a defense against all people except himself.

"My poor clear-eyed child," he murmured consolingly, "you are not even thought of by that demon-vessel who still stays in your thoughts so much."

Hinata swallowed slightly at the mention of Naruto. It had been Itachi who had told her what secret was kept by the blond boy who occupied her thoughts. The secret had not made her think less of Naruto, but the uneasy thought that Itachi had not intended for her to do otherwise bothered her. It meant that he knew her so well as to predict not only her actions, but also her thoughts. For another to be able to predict her thoughts meant that the other could easily manipulate her however he or she desired.

"It is all right," he assured her. "He does not love you, so I will kill him. It does not matter that he thinks nothing of you. I think everything of you. I love you. I will kill him because he makes you unhappy."

Hinata glanced worriedly at the shadows cast by the trees under the moonlight as she evaluated the statement made. He could do such a thing and it was possible that he would do so. "I would be unhappy if you killed him," she replied.

"You might be," he said rather nonchalantly, but his tone had grown colder. "Yet I cannot allow him to live. I must kill him for taking your heart and not giving his own. I must force him to pay for your heart with his own blood, and for taking your heart, he must also pay for taking it from me." He kissed her head, burrowing his nose in her blue hair.

"Why?" asked the female, shaking her head, half in confusion.

"Why?" He echoed in a chilling tone, but with a hint of hilarity. "For you." Itachi slowly moved a hand to her upper right leg and removed the three kunai strapped there as he spoke. "For my prize." He switched arms around his captive to more easily grab the kunai on her upper left leg as well. "For my beloved." He now moved a hand to her waist, taking out the scrolls she had there. Then, he dropped all the objects to the ground.

She stood mutely.

"You are too helpless to do anything to him. I will remove his beating heart and give it to you, as a gift. You will have his heart." He paused to move his mouth to her ear, where he could whisper the rest of his words. "You will have his heart to keep for as long as you desire…" he trailed off and then murmured almost inaudibly, "And I will have you, dear Hinata."

There was a long silence. The forest was dead that night and the moon had gone behind the clouds. There was only black, and the clear-eyed female could feel only the body of her companion as being real. It was a disturbing experience. "You lie," she accused suddenly. "You lie so often and you lie to me. If you held me dear, you would not---" Hinata stopped abruptly and turned around to stare at where she knew his eyes would be. Her voice was only slightly quavering as she declared, "You are a lie."

Itachi smirked under the cloak of darkness. Her allegation amused him. He pulled her close to him, pressing her body against his. "If I am a lie," he purred softly, "then what are you?"

He listened to her heavy, muffled breathing against his robes and almost missed her hushed answer when it came. "A liar. If you are a lie, then I am a liar." He wondered whether or not he should interrupt, but she continued speaking. "And if I am a liar, then you are a lie." She shook as she spoke, pained by what she was saying. "And I can no longer see what the truth is, because when I attempt to, you stop me. My own lie stops me."

"Your own lie?" inquired he curiously. "Do you claim me as your own?"

Hinata blinked at his question. She did not know how he wanted her to answer or what she would answer. She was not sure herself of it… did she claim him as her own? In a way, she did. He was her strange protection, and she did consider the defense he offered as hers. Would not that make it as that she considered him as hers? Yet how could she claim him as her own when he had already claimed her as a prize?

"I have a secret," he whispered, disrupting her thoughts. "Would you like to hear it?"

She shook her head to indicate that she did not wish to.

"Are you sure?" He loosened his hold on the female to push her away slightly. With one arm still firmly around her, he tilted her face towards his with a hand. "You most truthfully do not want to know? It is a very important secret."

She shook her head again, this time almost imperceptibly.

"Then I will tell you, and you shall know."

Almost desperately, Hinata whispered, "I do not want to know." It was true--- to an extent. She knew that she should not seek the secrets of someone as dangerous as Itachi, but curiosity compelled her to want to have the knowledge of what he was dangling at her so tantalizingly.

He could read what she did not say. "You are lying, but I will tell you, anyways." Something caught his attention, and he stopped. His eyes flashed red at the sudden change in light as the dawn started, with clouds as red as the ones embroidered on his robes. Upon noting the change as being only that of night to day, he relaxed and his eyes became normal once more. "I will tell you this important secret. I am your darkness and you are my clear, pure truth."

_"Truth?"_ Hinata tried to ask, but her voice had left with her courage.

"You are the only truth I know," continued Itachi. "And that is the secret only you may know."

She tried to speak, but he kissed her deeply.

She was caught in his truth.

As his truth.


End file.
